Kelsey Pyro

musician. producer. theater artist. educator.

SHE is unapologetically proud to be a Black woman and a Ojibwe Native American woman. Based in Brooklyn but from St. Paul/Minneapolis Minnesota, her sound is as eclectic as her heritage and life experience; combining her training, in classical cello and jazz vocals, with electronic R&B music production. Her lyrics, rooted in the oral traditions of her ancestors, are raw and uncensored; often calling upon subjects such as self love, self forgiveness, relationships, cultural experiences, and various issues facing her community. Kelsey has been honored to have played at events and venues such as SoundSet 2018, First Ave, The New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway, TEDx AIU, Contact Theater in Manchester England, and Secret Project Robot. She has also shared stages with renowned artists Erykah Badu, Logic, Migos, MC Lyte, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Atmosphere, Brother Ali, Wale, Slick Rick and more.

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SHE is currently an artist in residence, with THE SHED, and will debut her new work MAKADEWIIYAASIKWE in June 2019. independently released a two track EP, called “when im beautiful” on July 25th, 2017. On December 1st, 2017 Her arrangement of Solange’s “Cranes In The Sky” was released by LA based independent record label The Future Gods. Kelsey is a recipient of the Brooklyn Arts Council’s 2018 Brooklyn Arts Fund & Local Arts Support grant for her work, with Paris Alexandra, producing the Blue Nile live music jam session in Crown Heights.

SHE is a 1st Cohort First Wave Scholar with a baccalaureate from UW Madison. While at UW Madison she was the lead jazz vocalist of the Black Music Ensemble under the direction of, world renowned bass player, Richard Davis. Kelsey has performed and facilitated workshops in spaces such as The New Amsterdam Theater, Contact Theater (Manchester England), and TEDx AIU (Turkey), Antalya International University, MIT, NYU, UW Madison, and Williams College MA. Kelsey’s solo show “Break The Cycle,” a multi-media theater piece about being the first in your family to attend college, was commissioned by the University of Wisconsin Madison in 2014 and again by Williams College in Massachusetts in 2015. In 2016 she was accepted to EMERGENYC, through NYU’s Hemispheric Institute, which allowed her to experiment with the integration of music and performance art. Kelsey is currently composing new works, and facilitating music and poetry workshops with New York City Youth.